Great American Ball Park isn't the only place to get a hot dog when the mood strikes.

Great American Ball Park isn't the only place to get a hot dog when the mood strikes. A recent trend of putting bells and whistles on plain dogs means the choices of toppings are plentiful, and you also can find more quality dogs: all-beef, sometimes locally made, on good buns.

This bar and music venue in Northside has a hot dog menu with specialties such as the Hellaweiner ($7.50) — a jalapeno pepperjack mett with habanero salsa, shredded cheese and sour cream — or pigs in a blanket, which wraps up a hot dog, bacon and cheddar in a crescent roll. They also have a vegan chili cheese dog ($8), not an easy thing to create. Definitely try the delicious house apricot ketchup.

It might take you a while to get around to the hot dogs at this beloved barbecue joint. You have to first work your way through the pulled pork, the smoked turkey and the ribs. But the hot dogs have much to recommend them, as well. You get two in an order, both smoked, briefly fried, then grilled. They're smothered in smoky sweet barbecue sauce and topped with slaw and little pork cracklings. Yes, there is a hot dog in there somewhere. ($5 or $8 for a platter.)

The theme here is everything Chicago: not just dogs, but also Italian beef and Maxwell Polish sausages, plus gyros and pita sandwiches. Their dog menu includes an authentic Chicago-style dog on a poppy seed bun. There's also a "Dayton" dog with some of the Chicago embellishments like relish and sports peppers, a chili cheese dog, slaw dog, kraut dog, and The Fedyk with chili, cheese, mustard, onions, slaw and fries.

They call it burgers and fries, but they also have kosher-style hot dogs on the menu, and you can put any of the free toppings on them, giving you a large palette of bacon, cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms, steak sauce, barbecue sauce, relish, pickles, etc.

Smitty's on Elm: Try, if you dare, the Smitty Dog. It's a Nathan's hot dog wrapped in bacon and deep fried, then dipped in beer batter and deep fried again. You can add whatever toppings you feel the creation still needs. There is a food challenge associated with this dog; I was too scared to ask what it was. Or get a chili ripper: a hot dog with chili and cheese.

Yes, obviously Mad Mike's is known for its burgers — and good, cheap burgers they are — but they do hot dogs, too. All-beef dogs in an old-fashioned, soft hot dog bun. They stick with the conventional toppings, but you can ask to have them loaded up. A plain dog is $2.99; the bacon cheese dog is $4.39. Good house-cut fries on the side are hard to resist.

Mr. Gene's Doghouse: You can go to Mr. Gene or Mr. Gene will come to you. The original stand serves traditional hot dogs, hot or mild metts and coneys, plus wings and beef barbecue. The truck offers dogs dressed with chili, mustard, cheese and onions in various combinations, plus a Chicago dog and an Italian sausage (all $3). The stand is open; the truck hasn't hit the streets yet this year — watch Facebook.

Jolly's Drive-in: It's not that the hot dogs at Jolly's in Hamilton come with exotic toppings or are way better than other hot dogs. It's that they're served to you by carhops on little trays hooked onto your window. They're celebrating their 75th anniversary this year: celebrate with a foot-long with chili and a root beer.

This is where the concept of fancy dogs that make an entire meal and cost $9-$10 was introduced to Cincinnati. They elevate the simple dog to a gourmet meal. There have been hundreds of dogs offered at Senate since it opened two years ago, many of them named for local and national celebrities and topped with everything from béarnaise sauce to Grippo's potato chips to Asian slaw. On the menu, you can find the Korean hot dog with kimchi, braised short rib and pickled cucumber.

Dog choices from Mr. Hanton's, which is both a food truck and a restaurant in Clifton Heights, include beef franks, chicken apple goetta dogs, hot metts or Italian sausages. Toppings include the familiar — cheese whiz, dill relish and mustard — and the more off-beat such as hummus, tzatziki sauce and wasabi mayo. There are also Philly steaks, gyros and a vegetarian handwich. Sausages range from $3.50-$5. The truck can be found in Mount Adams and at suburban office parks and events.

Sammy's: This hard-working bar and restaurant in Blue Ash serves a diverse clientele of folks from the offices and industrial parks in their neighborhood. Known first for burgers, Sammy's also has a line of hot dogs. They start with a Nathan's dog and add a variety of toppings. The Mexican dog ($5.15) is wrapped in bacon, with tomato, onion, jalapenos and cilantro (though I didn't taste any cilantro). Other dogs include the Ranchero, the Ragita and the Loco.

This sliver of a bar/restaurant on Mount Lookout Square serves an imaginative menu of dogs, appetizers and cocktails. The Hans Gruber ($9) is an evil mastermind of a brat with a nice grilled char, with peppers, onions and Dusseldorf mustard. There are also chili dogs, Chicago-style dogs and other sausages from linguica to andouille. Make your own from the "Klaussen's Choice" menu.